Question

What is random motion? Give one example.

Answer 1

Hint:The motion of an object or a particle is described by the path it takes or the direction in which it moves. The path can be linear, circular, curvilinear or completely random. Most motions we see in nature have random behaviour. As the name suggests, an object that is said to be in a random motion will have completely unpredictable behaviour.

Complete step by step answer.
Step 1: Use an example to describe the random motion of a particle.

A particle or a group of particles are said to be behaving randomly if the path these particles take or the direction in which they move cannot be told in advance. This is because the particle or particles will be continuously changing the direction in which they move and they are allowed to move in any direction. There exist no constraints to the motion of the particles and so an equation describing the complete path of these particles cannot be obtained.

An example of this random motion is observed in the motion of a helium balloon in the sky. Now the helium molecules in the balloon will be moving in completely random directions as they collide with the surface of the balloon. The balloon will move in the net direction in which the gas molecules collide but the direction in which these molecules collide is unpredictable.

Note:The helium gas molecules in the balloon will not just collide with the surface of the balloon. They are also continuously colliding with each other. The continuous collisions will cause the velocity of the molecules to change and so only the average velocity is of any worth. The random behaviour of gas molecules in a container led to the development of the kinetic theory of gases.